


Burnin' Daylight

by oddkraken



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:22:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24660745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oddkraken/pseuds/oddkraken
Summary: Nick was always a sucker for Luke’s crazy schemes. A certain example being when Luke convinced Nick to go into business with him. It was a dumb idea, but Luke sounded so sure of himself. ‘We’re burnin’ daylight, man,’ he’d say, with a huge grin on his face. And Nick couldn’t say no to that.
Relationships: Clementine & Nick (Walking Dead: All That Remains), Luke/Nick (Walking Dead: All That Remains)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	Burnin' Daylight

Nick was always a sucker for Luke’s crazy schemes. A certain example being when Luke convinced Nick to go into business with him. It was a dumb idea, but Luke sounded so sure of himself. ‘We’re burnin’ daylight, man,’ he’d say, with a huge grin on his face. And Nick couldn’t say no to that. 

But now that isn’t so important. Things are different. Survival is the only thing on everyone’s mind. People grow close, especially groups that are stuck together. Like his group. Things are nice and relatively quiet in the countryside. Everyone looks out for each other because there’s no better bonding experience than being stuck in a damn zombie apocalypse.

Nick is still baffled - just at the concept of the whole thing. One day everything was normal, then bam. Things were never the same. He and Luke were best friends before it started - still are. He thinks that maybe they’ve grown even closer. What with having to face the possibility of one another’s death every day - which is a whole other problem for Nick. He can’t bear the thought of life without Luke. He lost his mom a few months ago and that nearly drove him to end it all. But Luke was there, every step of the way, making sure Nick could bounce back. It’s safe to say Uncle Pete wasn’t so helpful in that respect, but at least they could grieve together. 

_That’s enough damn daydreaming for the day_ , Nick thinks, when he hears a soft knock at the door. “Yeah?” Luke enters the room.  
“Why don’t ya’ stop self-isolating for a minute and come join us downstairs. We’ve got some exciting news…” He wiggles his eyebrows. Luke looks so dumb when he does that.  
_So why am I smiling?_  
Nick gets out of his bed and heads downstairs with Luke to see what everyone’s up to.  
He tends to self-isolate when he gets in his feelings, which - according to Luke - is pretty often. 

_Whatever._

Nick walks into the kitchen.  
“Ah, speak of the devil,” Carlos says.  
Nick scowls in response.  
“Hey, now.” Carlos raises his hands. “We’ve got word of a huge department store about 30 miles south of here. We need a big group together and were wondering if you’d want to join?”  
“Just think of all the supplies we’d get.” Luke grinned.  
“Alright, yeah. I’m in.” Nick agrees tentatively. “30 miles is a way’s away, when are we going?”  
“Car’s already runnin’ outside.” Luke answers. He won’t wipe that stupid smile off his face. Nick wonders why he’s so excited for this. Every supply run is a huge risk to everyone involved. Who knows if all of them will make it out alive? The world just sucks sometimes. People are going to die, whether or not it’s him. It’s inevitable, in Nick’s opinion.  
“Alright, alright.” Nick sighs.  
“Wait!” Nick hears a high-pitched voice shout out. It was the girl, Clementine. “I want to come with you guys.” She says, looking hopeful.  
“I think she should come,” Luke says.  
Nick nods in agreement with Luke. Clementine is a good addition to the group. He feels bad for shooting at her before. He honestly thought she was bitten. He just wanted to protect Luke and Pete. And, you know… prevent what happened to his mom.  
“Alright then, come on Clementine,” Carlos says.  
-  
There isn’t much room in the truck, so Nick and Luke are forced to the truck bed while Clem takes the middle seat, squished between Pete and Carlos. Luke holds on to the side of the truck with one hand and Nick’s shirt with the other. Nick feels his heartbeat pounding and hopes Luke can’t feel it. He holds on to the back of the truck and shuts his eyes, trying not to focus on the fact that Luke’s touch is making his heart race all of a sudden.  
“Don’t want you flyin’ out of the truck, bud,” Luke laughs nervously. 

The truck suddenly turns and comes to an abrupt halt, launching Luke right into Nick. Luke is still grasping at Nick’s shirt. He seems shaken up from the whole thing. Nick is shaken up as well, but mostly because Luke’s fingers are hovering over Nick’s abdomen. _Fuck._ Nick knows he shouldn’t be reacting this way, knows Luke would never react like that. He wishes he could be more like Luke.  
“Sorry,” Luke laughs. “Got a little scared.” Nick still can’t look him in the eye. “You okay, buddy?” Luke questions.  
“Yes,” Nick mumbles. He finally builds up the courage to look Luke in the eye. It’s a little dark outside, but Luke cheeks look slightly pink.  
Nick is reading too much into things. He probably imagined the flushed look on Luke’s face.  
The two of them hop out of the back and meet up with the rest of the group at the hood.  
“Ya’ ready?” Pete asks. Nick nods. They all follow the elder man, carefully avoiding the lurkers as they make their way to the front of the warehouse.  
It’s huge, and looks relatively untouched. Thank god. It’s an old Walmart, so it’s gotta have just about everything they would need. “Nick and Luke, take the back entrance. Me, Carlos and Clem will take the front. Take out every lurker you see, but be quiet about it.” Pete says. “And, Nick - keep your finger off the trigger, boy.”

Nick groans and rolls his eyes, his cheeks turning pink. He heads off with Luke to the back entrance. Nick knows this supply run is a big risk. There could be hundreds of lurkers inside. But he doesn’t hear any sounds through the back entrance, so hopefully they’re in the clear. Luke signals Nick to follow him as he opens the door.  
Suddenly, Luke lets out a shout. Nick turns to see two lurkers closing in on his friend. Nick pulls out his knife and gets one of them in the back of the skull while Luke defends himself against the other lurker. Once they’re in the clear, Nick rushes to Luke’s side. “Fuck, Luke. You scared me.” Nick sighs in relief.  
Luke grimaces. “Yeah, me too.”  
They clear the back area of any remaining lurkers and meet up with the rest of the group in the middle of the store. “There’s so much stuff!” Clem exclaims. She’s right. Nick smiles thinking about how well off they’ll be from now on with all these supplies.  
Everyone fills their bags up with whatever they can fit. Nick’s backpack is just about bursting at the seams. Things are looking up, for once. They take turns loading up the truck while Carlos keeps lookout outside. The truck bed is just about full when Nick hears the sound of lurkers approaching in the distance. 

“Guys, we gotta go now,” Nick says. “Sounds like a whole bunch of ‘em are coming.”

“Not yet. We need more time.” Pete growls. 

Pete comes out of the store with his last load when three lurkers suddenly appear out of nowhere, ganging up on him. Nick shouts and runs over to help Pete. He raises his gun and starts shooting. He’s too late. One of the lurkers is eating away at Pete’s neck. 

“NO!” Nick screams. He feels strong hands grab onto his shoulders and his first instinct is to fight.

“It’s just me, Nick. I’m so sorry, man, but we gotta go!” Luke shouts. His hands are still steady on Nick’s shoulders, pulling him away from the scene. Nick is led back to the truck. He listens as Pete’s screams slowly die away, masked by the lurkers surrounding him. There must be hundreds now. Luke opens the passenger door of the truck and pushes Clementine and Nick inside. He then quickly hops in the truck bed and taps the side of the truck. “Carlos, go!” Luke yells. 

Carlos presses down hard on the gas pedal and they drive away, leaving the horde of lurkers. And Pete. 

Nick can’t think straight. He can’t tell if he feels rage or sadness. Probably both. He looks down in shock at his trembling hands.  
_Fuck. Why does everyone close to Nick die? Why can’t he be the one? It would be better off that way._

He suddenly feels a small hand close around his. “I’m sorry about Pete,” Clem whispers. Nick squeezes his eyes shut and holds tightly onto her hand, like it’s the last thing grounding him to Earth.  
\---  
They get back to the cabin and Nick immediately goes up to his room, locking the door. He can hear the sobs of Rebecca downstairs. He grimaces, covering his face with a pillow. He wishes he could drown out everything. Just stay in his bed like this forever. He feels so fucking numb. Tears trickle down his face as he thinks about Pete getting attacked by the lurkers. 

Nick wakes up to the touch of someone’s hand. He turns over to see Luke is lying down next to him, solemnly looking into his eyes. Luke pulls Nick into an embrace, lightly stroking down his back. 

“You know I love ya’, Nick,” Luke said. “And I’m so goddamn sorry about Pete and having to leave him behind. I swear I was just trying to protec-”

“Yeah, I know.” Nick interrupts him. He knows that when Luke gets nervous he tends to talk - a lot. He manages a small smile and pulls Luke closer. They fall asleep like that, their long limbs entangled with one another.  
\---  
_Nick dreams that he’s falling. He looks up to the sky and sees dark clouds. A scream echoes in the distance. Luke stares down at him with a dreadful expression on his face.  
Nick closes his eyes. He feels ice. He is swallowed by the ocean. Submerged underwater. A lurker grabs onto his shoe and pulls him down to the bottom of the ocean. He screams but nothing comes out. _

Nick wakes up, immediately flushing at the sight of Luke pressed up against his side. He feels a knot in his stomach. Nick slowly untangles himself, careful not to wake Luke. He really doesn’t want to deal with that situation right now.  
Whenever Luke gets close to him, Nick finds his heart racing. He doesn’t know why. He thinks that maybe he’s just uncomfortable with being that close to someone. Touching them. Hugging them. It makes Nick feel weak and vulnerable. He hates the feeling. But then, he’ll slowly relax into the touch. His heart rate will settle down. He’ll feel calm, calmer than he usually is. Especially when it’s Luke who is touching him.  
Luke is his safety net. He’s been there as long as Nick can remember, a constant in his life. They’re always together, kind of like a package deal. 

“Nick?” Luke yawns, making Nick jump.  
_Damn. Almost reached the door._  
“Morning.” Nick pointedly stares at the bedsheets rather than the body sprawled out on top of them.  
“Mornin’. How are you feeling?” Luke inquires, tilting his head slightly. Luke’s concerned expression infuriates Nick. He doesn’t know why.  
“Shitty,” Nick answers. “Gonna go get some breakfast.” His response is curt. He opens the door, leaving behind Luke and his stupid, sad puppy eyes. He’s afraid of staying any longer, afraid of Luke seeing him so vulnerable like he did last night.  
_Nick really does feel shitty. Uncle Pete is gone. Despite his tough attitude, he was still Nick’s family. And now he has nothing. He thinks of his mom. His friends. They’re all dead and there’s nothing Nick can do to bring them back. He holds on to distant memories - ones that will fade out of his mind eventually.  
What’s left to live for?_

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!!!  
> I recently discovered the walking dead game and am so in love with the idea of a luke x nick pairing. I just had to write a story about them. I'm so happy I discovered them because it has basically forced me to write something in what seems like years. Apologies for my writing. It's been a while.  
> I really would appreciate any constructive criticism as it helps me sooo much, as does praise:))) Lol
> 
> But fr I hope people enjoy this! I plan on writing more chapters, already have written a bit of the second and third chapters. Let me know of any ideas you guys would like to see with this story!! I hope people still check the Nick x Luke tab LOL!


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